Due to the growing perception that environmental pollution of any type is inimical to the well-being of all the denizens of this planet, there has been a concerted effort to reduce noxious emissions. In particular, producers of non-ferrous materials are faced with the difficult mission of reducing sulfur dioxide emissions to acceptable levels. Accordingly, over the years numerous techniques have been developed and utilized to obtain this goal.
As a result of non-ferrous smelting operations, lime slags are produced as by-products. Until recently, these lime slags were believed to be essentially useless. After recovery of valuable entrained materials (usually copper), the remainder of the slag would be discarded.
It has been determined however that these lime slags contain significant quantities of 2CaO.Fe.sub.2 O.sub.3 which will react with sulfur dioxide. Instead of being discarded, the slag now serves a useful purpose for sulfur dioxide control.